Machine Quilting on a Home Sewing Machine

Quilting is a traditional way to attach two pieces of fabric into a beautiful whole but it can be very time consuming. A sewing machine can save a lot of time and make quilting possible for home sewers. This is a guide about machine quilting on a home sewing machine.

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Solutions: Machine Quilting on a Home Sewing Machine

Each year, our family honors my grandmother who was a great seamstress and quilter by having a gathering we call the Barnhouse Bees. We all exchange squares with each other and catch up on what we have done the past year. We all bring a dish and share a meal. Each year, you bring back your squares from the prior year made into a quilt. We all show our quilts and honor the ones who have passed on.

Every time, we meet we choose a theme for the following yearly bee. One year, we used the theme "Grandma's Cellar". We each made 20 squares of the Mason Jar pattern containing something that she would have canned and put in her cellar. Another year, we did the theme of "Grandma's Dresses". Once, I even made extra squares in my mother's memory.

What a great way to make memories for years to come and a wonderful tradition to pass down to our children and grandchildren.

Quilting is my hobby. I have heard of many, many different ways to machine quilt. Some people or books insist that to do free-motion quilting on the machine you must get a special presser foot, called a darning foot. I haven't found out what the cost for my machine is, but they can cost $12 - $45, or more.

I have been able to get the same results free-motion quilting by simply removing my presser foot, and lowering the feed-dogs. You must have the presser foot lever down, as most machines have a safety feature so you can't stitch with it up, and it holds the quilt sandwich down gently. Happy quilting!

Questions

I would like to use luan or something similar to make a surround for my sewing machine in order to have an extended area that would hold a large quilt. What could I use under the luan to raise it to the proper level for my machine that would not slide around or damage the wood table under it.